336 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



scription of this unique cave and its contents, I beg to refer to Mr. 

 Plunkett's recent Paper. [See preceding uotice of it.] 



The Cakxs. 



The earns which occupy a position upon or adjoining the summit 

 command a magnificent panorama extending over several counties, and 

 nearly the whole of Upper Lough Erne and its almost countless 

 islands. The very general selection during pagan times, in Erin, of 

 commanding heights for sepulchral purposes may be accounted for in 

 more ways than one. In the first place, during the period of crema- 

 tion, earn, stone-circle, and cromleac building, it is probable that me- 

 morials of the dead, whom the Celts delighted to honour, could best 

 be discerned from a distance, most of the plains and glens being then 

 fassaghs or wildernesses of co-mingled loch, bog, and forest, or tangled 

 underwood. In the second place, we read in our oldest manuscripts of 

 warriors desiring their bodies, armed as for battle, to be buried in a 

 position facing their enemies ; and some very curious legends are yet 

 extant which more or less illustrate the old pagan idea that, at times, 

 a dead and interred hero was nevertheless still more potent for victory 

 than a host of spear-hurling chariot-driving righs, well followed, and 

 commanded by a leader whose sword " ne'er gave a second wound." 



It is to be regretted that the names of the Knockninny earns 

 have been lost, as with them, doubtlessly, have been lost the names 

 of individuals who had made their mark in the history of the north of 

 Erin. The cams, three in number, though not very grand in their 

 proper dimensions, nevertheless acquire some degree of dignity from 

 the fact of their builders having raised them upon natural elevations, 

 with which their contour, generally, more or less coincides. These 

 piles, though lost to history, may not yet be barren to archaeology, as 

 in the outer shell of both, enclosed in cists, urns containing burned 

 bones have been found. Unfortunately these have been lost, and we 

 have no evidence as to the character of their contents. During the 

 course of last summer a partial exploration of these cams was made 

 by Dr. Haughton, Mr. Plunkett, and myself, on which occasion 

 neither urns nor cists were found. Probably a further examination 

 would be attended with success. At present I can only say of these 

 works, that they appear to be composed almost entirely of sandstone 

 boulders of inconsiderable size; and that their height above the level of 

 the soil or rock upon which they stand may be estimated at 8 and 

 12 feet respectively, the circumference at base being about 140 

 feet. Unlike many of the tumuli found elsewhere in Ireland, their 

 bases were not surrounded by a circle of stones. 



The Giants' Graves. 



Between the humble cist, composed of four flags, and a covering 

 stone, and gigantic tumuli like those of Newgrange and Dowth, upon 

 the Boyne, there is indeed a great difference ; but that the one may be 

 traced to the other through such connecting links as the varieties of 



